On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy announced the creation of the United States Peace Corps. This Tuesday, March 1, 2011 is the 50th Anniversary of that historic occasion. We at Child Family Health International are asking you to honor that event by signing the ServiceWorld International Volunteer Service Declaration. It is a simple pledge to encourage expansion of such efforts and that you stand ready to be of service. We and our colleagues in other organizations hope to have 100,000 Americans or more make such a commitment.

The Peace Corps was the first national organization in the world dedicated to international volunteer service. In the past 50 years, the Peace Corps has engaged millions of people from all cultures and nationalities in the search for common ground, and has inspired countless organizations of every type, foreign and domestic, all over the world. We at CFHI are a part of this legacy and whether you have served or are thinking of doing so, you are as well.

You can make a difference today. All you need to do is to join us in signing the International Volunteer Service Declaration. For more information about ServiceWorld and to sign this Declaration on this important date, please visit the Service World Website.

President Kennedy and the first Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver envisioned 100,000 Americans serving abroad every year. Imagine the impact this would have had on the world if such an effort had been realized 50 years ago and replicated by other nations. ServiceWorld is ambitious, as it seeks to make this vision come true today.

While the current budget crisis makes this moment a challenging time to promote new initiatives, please remember that it is often during such occasions that old paradigms are changed, when necessity and creativity generate needed innovation, and when a “quantum leap” forward is truly possible. Now is such a time for citizen diplomacy and international volunteer service. Help us all become part of those new solutions. After you sign the Declaration, please forward this request to your friends and ask them to join you in this effort, as well.